CBD for Pain: 2020 Study of 1453 U.S. CBD Consumers

• 60% of CBD consumers use it to treat Chronic pain, followed by Migraine pain (34%), Arthritis pain (28%), and Cancer treatment pain (3%).
• Smoking/Vaping is the most common CBD administration method with 41%, followed by Topical (32%), Tincture/Oil (31%), Edibles (27%), Capsules (26%), Sublingual (9%).
• 55% of participants don’t use THC for pain relief.

• 53% CBD consumers use it as their ONLY pain relief medication.
• 32% don’t feel any tolerance to CBD despite long-time consumption.
• 44% NEVER experience any side effects.

Among 259 participants who regularly used opioids before CBD:

Major takeaways:

• 73% said that their opioid withdrawal symptoms eased after they used CBD. Half of them believe it thanks to CBD effects.
• Only 3% didn’t see opioids withdrawal symptoms relieved after using CBD.​

I would say that overall, these findings are consistent with other recent surveys that have also shown people are commonly using CBD to treat pain and that they report it is effective. This study suggests that what we now need is controlled research to understand CBD’s pain-relieving effects (there is surprisingly very little research published in this area on humans). Without controlled studies, it is difficult to know whether some people experience benefits from CBD due to expectancy effects. For example, they may have heard from a friend that CBD helps with pain and they then have an expectation it will help them (this is often referred to as the placebo effect). Controlled research will also help to determine if there are certain CBD doses that are more effective than others, routes of administration, etc.

Tory R. Spindle, Ph.D – Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Our lab has been doing research on cannabinoids for over 20 years. Our studies on CBD have shown that it is highly effective against autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In fact, based on our studies, FDA has approved the use of CBD to treat autoimmune hepatitis as an orphan drug. Because inflammation also causes pain, it is likely that CBD-mediated suppression of pain may result from its anti-inflammatory properties

Prakash Nagarkatti, Ph.D – Vice President for Research, University of South Carolina

It is important for readers to understand the limitations of observational, cross-sectional, survey-based research such as this — particularly when the survey is only distributed to people who fit a certain pre-set criteria (here, people who already use CBD for pain relief). An individual’s belief that a drug treats certain symptoms is different from clinical, placebo-controlled evidence that the drug is actually effective. While these results may tell readers what a certain group of survey-takers thin about CBD, readers should not accept these results as evidence that CBD is effective as pain relief or will help them replace opioids — at least until more robust evidence is available.

Theodore L. Caputi, BS – Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College Cork, Cork, Republic of Ireland

The relationship between cannabis use and opioid use/mortality is still somewhat debated in the scientific literature, with most research focused on comparing states where marijuana is legal, with those where it’s not. Most of those comparisons seem to show a positive effect; that states with more relaxed marijuana laws have lower rates of opioid abuse. There’s also some debate around exactly which components of cannabis are most useful for pain relief, with different reports suggesting that both THC and CBD may help relieve pain. That your survey respondents clearly find CBD helpful for managing their pain helps to fill in another piece of this puzzle, and as a whole it’s a very encouraging set of results.

Matthew Wall, Ph.D – Senior Imaging Scientist, Imperial College London

This study demonstrates some of the benefit that consumers are finding with with CBD for pain. In our work, we found benefit for anxiety that was prompt and without significant side effects. We need more studies to clarify all of these findings, but the basic science and early clinical findings support a strong signal that echoes the relief indicated in this survey.

Scott Shannon, MD – American Holistic Medical Association

Information is vital. Heightened by the breadth of the opioid crisis, it strictly benefits us to learn about the efficacy and drawbacks of alternative forms of pain management. With additional information and evidence, we can make better choices in treatment.

Rhet Smith – Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

These results echo the findings in our previous research that people using cannabis medicinally find it to be better on effectiveness, side effects, safety, addictiveness, availability, and cost compared to pharmaceutical drugs in general. We also see the lack of integration between the medical use of cannabinoids and mainstream healthcare for a substantial portion of users, which could be problematic in several ways. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 removed federal prohibitions on CBD products, enabling the possibility of randomized double-blind controlled trials which could provide the type of evidence necessary for fully integrating CBD into mainstream healthcare. It seems like CBD could play a powerful role in ameliorating the opioid epidemic.

We launched the survey on MTurk. To make sure the participants are U.S weed smokers, we do two things:

1. Set qualifications to ensure that participants are located only in the U.S.
2. Set a qualifying question at the beginning of the survey. In this case, the qualifying question is “Do you use CBD for pain relief?”, those who answered “No” will be disqualified and can not complete the survey.

If you know someone who could benefit from our findings, feel free to share this project with them. The graphics and content are available for noncommercial reuse. All we ask is that you link back to this page so that readers get all the necessary information and we receive proper credit.

Here is the document version of this study’s results. You can freely use it to repost the study on your site, as long as you respect our fair use statement: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cN-jE2F5nrlmqQGLjyt8cay3QpUdXqSihG4A98z4Hx4/edit?usp=sharing